Batman’s most recent nemesis, Bane, is making a stop at Franklin Street on Halloween — frat style.
In an attempt to bring Bane to UNC, sophomore Christoper Batchelder, an economics and political science double major, ran a campaign to construct a costume that restored the character of Bane — with a UNC twist.
“I was trying to think of something that was iconic and recognizable and memorable, and he struck me as one of those villains,” Batchelder said.
Batchelder started a communal fundraiser to create the perfect Bane costume. One of the key features will be a microphone to make the wearer’s voice sound more like Bane from the most recent Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.
Donors of $10 or more will get their name engraved in the mask. Donors of $30 or more will get a Bane UNC shirt. Donors of $100 or more will become part-time owners of the mask, and can use it whenever they want.
Unfortunately, the campaign only raised $260, which was barely enough to cover the $220 mask.
The mask was made from a company called Gotham City FX, which made the mask from the actual mold of the original Bane mask from The Dark Knight Rises.
“We’re probably going to strap speakers to the sides inside the vest and just wreck havoc,” Batchelder said. “That is the very iconic part of Bane, is the voice and being able to attract the people and being able to say the coolest things.”
Instead of just attempting to restore the original Bane costume from the movie, Batchelder wanted a way to incorporate a UNC spin on it.
“I’ve also been thinking of cool UNC-specific ways to make it special to UNC, one of the which a lot of people recommend was ‘Frat Bane,’” he said, “a fratty Bane with the fratty stuff, maybe some fratty customization to the mask and with the voice modifier saying fratty stuff, almost becoming that UNC flair to it and make it iconic to the community.”
After Halloween, Batchelder wants the Bane costume to be incorporated into Carolina events.
“I want to hopefully make it ‘Frat Bane’ or hopefully ‘Carolina Bane’ for the rest of the year and have a person wearing Carolina colors — maybe even like a Carolina logo or a Carolina color on the mask — and have him come into the Carolina games and really rouse the crowd,” he said.
“I think a UNC-specific variant could be very cool,” he said. “People like seeing stuff esoterically to their community.”
But for tomorrow night, “Frat Bane” will take the stage.
“Seeing the image of seeing Bane or Frat Bane walking down Franklin Street and the loud annunciations coming from him would be very iconic,” Batchelder said.
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